The present application is a national stage filing claiming priority to PCT International Application Serial No. PCT/DE00/00871 filed Mar. 22, 2000, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention is a mobile baseball practice device for practicing the batting or swinging motion of a baseball bat.
In baseball, the basic idea is for a batter to hit a baseball thrown by the pitcher of the opposing team with a baseball bat, propelling the ball in such a manner that it takes as long as possible for the opposing team to retrieve the baseball. Nowadays, the baseball is thrown at speeds of up to 160 km/h, so it is extremely important for the batter to swing the bat with as perfect a swing as possible within an extremely short reaction time and hit the ball in the central zone. This is only possible when the swinging motion is performed as an automatic reflex. For this to happen, the motion has to be practiced in such a manner as to allow the muscles to carry out the optimum swinging motion automatically.
Thus far, practice devices have been used to practice the swinging motion which utilize a pipe frame restricting the swinging motion of the baseball batter during practice. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,852 describes a mobile pipe frame with a c-shaped, curved guide pipe extending out of the end along which the baseball bat is to be swung. The other end of the guide pipe is straight and has a horizontal surface upon which a baseball is placed and which is to be hit by the batter. U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,039 also describes a mobile pipe frame which has two pipes standing parallel to one another and pipes which are arranged one above the other. The lower pipe has a T piece upon which the baseball can be placed. The practicing batter is thus supposed to swing the baseball bat between the pipes. All existing devices share the same disadvantage, namely that the swinging motion of the baseball bat can only be restricted to an insufficient degree with respect to the distance of the end of the bat relative to the batter while at the same time allowing the swinging motion to be carried out so that only a certain predetermined type of swing can be practiced.
Furthermore, existing devices do not allow the spatial position of the baseball bat to be influenced by the practice device during the swinging motion. The position of the bat in space at the point in time when it meets the ball, however, plays a crucial role. Thus, the batter can hit the ball at the point in time when he is facing the ball frontally as well as standing sideways to the ball or even on the inner side relative to the batter. While a frontal hit and a hit on the inner side relative to the batter is considered to be a good hit, meeting the ball on the outer side relative to the batter is not practiced. If a baseball is supposed to be hit on the outer side relative to the batter, it has to be hit at an earlier point in time, whereby the baseball bat has to travel a longer distance to the ball at the same time. In end effect, the batter needs more time to guide the baseball bat correctly to the ball and the probability of meeting the ball is correspondingly lower.
It is therefore a paramount object of the present invention to provide an improved practice device to practice an optimum swinging motion of a baseball bat.
This and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon a reading of the following description
The present invention is a mobile practice device for practicing an optimum swinging motion of a baseball bat using a strike zone restriction apparatus which includes a vertical side wall supported by a holding apparatus. As a result of the strike zone restriction apparatus, the area of motion is restricted for the head of the baseball bat, which will contact the vertical side wall as soon as the head of the bat leaves the allowed hitting zone.
Specifically, the batter stands next to the practice device. The batter needs to stand as closely as possible to the practice device, preferably approximately 50 cm to 70 cm from the vertical side wall. If the batter now makes a swinging motion from an initial position where the head of the baseball bat (viewed in the direction of the swing) is located behind the grip of the bat, the batter is forced to swing the bat in such a manner that the head of the bat is located behind the grip of the bat throughout almost the entire swing. Because the head of the bat is not allowed to leave the hitting zone above the side wall, the batter automatically swings the head of the bat between his body and the pitch trajectory in the direction of the baseball. Practicing in this manner significantly increases the probability that the baseball will regularly be hit on the inner side of the batter and not on the outer side of the batter. The swinging motion is thus generally shortened, allowing the batter relatively little time to meet the ball.
An additional advantage of the present invention is that the practicing batter has to keep his hands close to his body during the entire swinging motion, which means that the center of gravity of the baseball bat is kept comparatively close to the body, and the head of the bat can be swung at a greater speed. This allows harder and longer hits to be attained.
Moreover, compared with the aforementioned state of the art, the practice device of the present invention has the advantage that, although the zone for the swinging motion is limited, which influences how the batter holds the bat and the distance of the bat to the batter, the bat can still be moved freely within this zone. This allows the baseball to be hit in an optimum manner practicing with a pitcher or a ball-throwing device using different kinds of pitchesxe2x80x94fastballs, slow balls, sliders, curves and screwballs. It is also possible to practice with balls which are positioned in a hitting direction in front of strike zone restriction apparatus.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mobile practice device is set up with a back wall placed predominantly at a right angle to the side wall. This restricts the back side of the zone (viewed in the swinging direction) for the motion of the bat. This also allows the baseball bat to be swung relatively close to the body, resulting in the swinging motion being relatively short and allowing the baseball bat to be swung faster. In addition, the swinging motion has diagonal components. The baseball bat is thus not swung only from the rear to the front, but rather at the same time from above to below. This ensures that the practicing batter learns to guide the head of the bat in a constant downward motion until it meets the ball. As a result, the force of gravity on the bat can be used to accelerate the swing of the bat. This allows more and better hits than if the swings were only made at a horizontal level.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mobile practice device also has a lower wall which is positioned predominantly at a right angle to the side wall. This restricts the zone for the motion of the bat on its lower side as well. This is especially advantageous when the practice device is used in conjunction with a ball holder, and the ball holder holds a baseball at a certain height in front of the practice device in the batting direction. In this case, the lower wall prevents the head of the bat hitting under the ball when practicing.
The aforementioned back and/or the lower walls can be formed with a single curved wall, the shape of the curve being adjustable to provide for an optimum swinging motion. A preferred curved wall forms an approximately 90xc2x0 spherical curve, one end of which is substantially vertical and the other end of which is at an acute angle to a horizontal plane in its tangential extension.
In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the holding device includes a height-adjustment apparatus which allows the height of the strike zone restriction apparatus to be adjusted. In particular, this allows swinging to be practiced at different levels, for instance, with a corresponding ballholding device whose height can be accordingly adjusted to hold the ball at a certain height.
As a further refinement, it is recommended that the holding device have an adjustable joint, thus allowing the strike zone restriction apparatus to be swiveled as well. This allows, for instance, the position of the curved wall, particularly the angle of its lower end relative to a horizontal plane, to be adjusted to conform to the respective swinging motion to be practiced.
In another alternate embodiment of the present invention, the holding device has a stride guide, which functions to set the side position of the batter relative to the strike zone restriction apparatus. An appropriately designed stride guide can also determine the distance of the batter to the back wall. A preferred stride guide can thus provide the practicing batter with an optimum stride-foot position. The batter can not stand in an incorrect position relative to the ball, thus ruling out improper practice.
As has been stated at several points in the foregoing, the practice device of the present invention can be provided with a ball holder which has a surface upon which a baseball can be placed, where the surface is arranged in front of the strike zone restriction apparatus (viewed in the swinging direction). The batter can place a baseball on this ball holder and swing at it. This also allows the batter to train without a pitcher, while still gaining a feel for where he will meet the ball with a certain swing. One problem here, however, is that it is comparatively time-consuming to pick up all of the balls which have been hit after the practice is finished.
For this reason, it is contemplated that some embodiments of the practice device of the present invention include a ball holder having an elastic holder element permanently linked to a baseball. The practicing batter is thus able to hit the baseball during his swing without the ball flying away, as it is held by the elastic holder. This saves the time one would otherwise have to spend picking up all the practice balls during or after the practice session, and also allows batting practice with a ball to take place in enclosed spaces. Furthermore, the elasticity of the ball holder determines the resistance against the head of the bat when it meets the ball, and can vary according to the design of the ball holder. A practice device with a ball holder can be used either alone or in combination with strike zone restriction apparatus.
In the preferred embodiments described herein, the elastic holding element of the ball holder is preferably made of a rod-like rubber element, one end of which is linked to a holding device and the other end of which is linked to the baseball. Furthermore, it is contemplated that the ball be removably linked to the holder element-for instance with a screw. Or, in another embodiment, the ball is permanently linked to the holding element to form a single unit.
As a further refinement, it is preferred that the elastic holding element is placed on an adjustable joint, allowing the position of the holding element, and thus that of the baseball, to be adjusted. An adjustable ball joint which can be continuously adjusted and set, for example, with three set screws, is particularly well suited to serve as a joint.
As a further refinement, the ball holder may also have a height-adjustment apparatus so that the height of the ball can be set. This is particularly advantageous in connection with the strike zone restriction apparatus, as this allows various swings to be practiced.
As a further refinement, the, the ball holder may also have a traverse stanchion with several points at which to connect an elastic holding element. This is also advantageous, particularly in connection with a strike zone restriction apparatus. In this design, for instance, the ball can be positioned in front of the strike zone restriction apparatus (in the direction of the swing), for example, off to the side in the direction of the batter, aligned with the side wall or offset on the side in the direction away from the batter. This allows a host of swinging techniques to be practiced.
The identified embodiments associated with the present invention apply not only to a practice device for baseball, but also to comparable sports, such as softball, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention